Main Gallery
Nga Kakahu: Kaitaka 2009
Maker: Jo Torr
Photography credit Michael Hall
The Gauguin Suite: Vahine no te Tiare – Woman with a Flower 2001
Maker: Jo Torr
Photography credit Michael Hall
Transit of Venus III 2004
Maker: Jo Torr
Photography credit Michael Hall
Into the Southern Hemisphere: Tupaia 2012
Maker: Jo Torr
Photography credit Michael Hall
The Society Islands 2008
Maker: Jo Torr
Photography credit Michael Hall
Stomachers and Pockets: Hibiscus 2007
Maker: Jo Torr
Photography credit Michael Hall
Islanders
09 March 2013 - 04 May 2013
Texturally rich and profoundly beautiful, Islanders surveys the work of New Zealand sculptor Jo Torr, who explores cultural exchange through the lens of costume and textile history. Her exquisitely designed and authentically detailed garments, provide an intriguing mode for reflecting on the history and vogues of early European and Polynesian encounters, both in New Zealand and in wider Polynesia.
Islanders brings together for the first time works from eleven suites of Torr’s previously exhibited work, along with brand-new works made for Objectspace. The exhibition is accompanied by a publication featuring large-scale images and commissioned essays by Kolokesa Māhina-Tuai, Andrew Paul Wood, and Chanel Clarke that consider the theme of cultural exchange in Torr’s practice from European, Māori and Pasifika perspectives.
Jo Torr was awarded the William Hodges Fellowship in 2011. Her work is held in a number of major public and private collections across New Zealand.
The artist will take part in a conversation about her work at Objectspace, on Saturday 9 March, 11am.